Department for Transport

Aviation: Scotland

lord forsyth of drumlean: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the sufficiency of competition in theprovision of air services from Scotland to London.

baroness vere of norbiton: The aviation sector operates in a competitive, commercial environment, investing to attract passengers and responding to demand when determining routes to operate. Scotland is well-served by air services into London, with at least two airlines operating direct services from each of Scotland’s four largest airports into the London system.

Passenger Ships: Standards

lord berkeley: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Marine and Coastguard Agency’s Consultation on the Proposed Revised Technical Requirements and Associated Impact Assessment Resulting from the Review of Standards for Older UK Passenger Ships, published on 6 November 2018, whether the Maritime and Coastguard Agency will publish updated proposals to regulate older UK passenger boats before 20 August taking into account responses already received; and whether any such proposals willinclude essential safety measures to improve human survival rates in the event of a major collision.

baroness vere of norbiton: The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) has adjusted the proposals in the light of responses to the first consultation and launched a second consultation on the revised proposals on 29 May 2019. The consultation can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/second-consultation-on-the-review-of-standards-for-older-passenger-ships. These proposals retain damage stability requirements for some vessels. The MCA believes that the enhancements to damage stability, life-saving appliance carriage requirements and pumping arrangements will improve the outcome in the event of an incident.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

British Steel: Loans

lord myners: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they took into considerationBritish Steel’s acquisition of Ascovalwhen reachingtheir decision on lending tothat company.

lord henley: The purchase of Ascoval was undertaken by the shareholder, and not by British Steel.

Department for International Development

North Korea: Food Supply

lord alton of liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the UN World Food Programme's food security anylsis, published on 3 May,which states that North Korea’s food situation is critical and is set to worsen and that South Pyongan Province facesa severe food security crisis.

baroness sugg: Limited availability of official data from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) makes comprehensive analysis of the situation difficult. DFID is currently the fourth largest donor to the World Food Programme (WFP). DFID provides both multi-year core funding (£40 million a year) and non-core funding. WFP can use these resources to respond rapidly to food insecurity where needs are greatest. DFID continues to track and monitor humanitarian risks around the globe.

Gaza: Food Aid

baroness tonge: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the statement by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East that more than a million people in Gaza may not have enough food in June unless international donors can raise £46 million in funding due to the deficit created by cuts by the government of the United States to Palestinian refugee aid.

baroness sugg: The UK is deeply concerned about the challenges facing over a million Palestinian refugees who rely on food assistance in Gaza. We recognise that Palestinian refugees need UNRWA to be on a more secure financial footing. To that end, the UK is working with UNRWA and other donors to support cost cutting efforts, diversify donor income, and encourage multi-year funding commitments. The UK is a leading donor to UNRWA and I can confirm that the UK has committed to providing up to £80m to UNRWA over the next two years. However, a long-term solution requires a just, fair, agreed and realistic settlement for Palestinian refugees. Until that happens the UK remains firmly committed to supporting UNRWA and Palestinian refugees.

Kenya: Abortion

lord alton of liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byBaroness Sugg on 20 May (HL15585), what methods they used when deciding that there would be 322,000 additional users of the Delivering Sustainable and Equitable Increases in Family Planning in Kenya programme; of those, how many they estimate will use that programme for terminations of pregnancy; from what legislation the policy safe and unsafe abortion derives its mandate and authority to provide support "to increase awareness among policy-makers, legislators, national health authorities and health personnel of the circumstances under which abortion is allowed" in countries where abortion is illegal; and how much has been spent onabortions in each year since that policy was enacted.

baroness sugg: DFID Kenya used an internationally respected open-access modelling tool known as ‘Impact2 model’ to estimate the 322,000 additional Family Planning Users to be reached by the programme. This estimate does not include the terminations of pregnancy but covers only users of voluntary modern family planning. DFID’s legislative authority to provide development assistance comes under the International Development Act (IDA). The policy on safe abortion takes an evidence-based, public health approach that aims to reduce death and disability caused by unsafe abortions. The policy is also consistent with the Cairo Programme of Action, agreed at the 1994 United Nations International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). The ICPD affirmed that in no case should abortion be promoted as a method of family planning. In countries where abortion is permitted, we can support development programmes that make safe abortion more accessible. In countries where it is highly restricted and maternal mortality and morbidity are high, we can help make the consequences of unsafe abortion more widely understood and can consider supporting processes of legal and policy reform. The UK abortion policy can be viewed on GOV.UK.

Department for Education

Special Educational Needs

lord porter of spalding: To ask Her Majesty's Government whatsteps they aretaking to ensure that local health partners are playing an equitable role alongside local government in supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities.

lord agnew of oulton: Creating an effective inter-agency approach, where local government works in partnership with health partners to meet needs, is a key feature of the reforms to the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) system introduced in the 2014 Children and Families Act. We introduced joint Ofsted/Care Quality Commission local area inspections of SEND services in May 2016 to hold services to account and support them with improving. Where issues with performance are identified, including following a SEND inspection, the Department for Education (DfE), Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England collaborate to drive improvement. In addition to the inspections, we have strengthened joint accountability through the introduction of a 2-year trial, which began in April 2018, extending the remit of the First-tier Tribunal (SEND) to make non-binding recommendations on health and social care elements of education health care (EHC) plans. To improve timeliness, the 2017-18 NHS Provider Contract for NHS Trusts included a new requirement to report on meeting the 6-week deadline for health input into EHC plans.We are clear that strong strategic leadership across health, education and care is key to effective SEND services and we have: Established a new joint SEND system leadership board, with representatives from education, health and social care, working alongside joint roundtables chaired by Ministers from both DfE and DHSC. Established a national network for Designated Medical Officers and Designated Clinical Officers, funded a local authority-led regional network and developed resources to support joint self-assessment and peer review. Funded a consortium of partners, including the Condition Data Collection, to work with health and social care services, including producing guidance on effective joint commissioning and improving EHC plans. Funded a SEND leadership programme and legal training for all local authorities and their health partners to ensure they are clear on their statutory responsibilities. We have also re-emphasised the requirement to jointly commission Information, Advice and Support (IAS) Services across health and the local authority through our new minimum standards, backed by £10 million investment through the IAS programme.

Vocational Education

lord taylor of warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to work with UK businesses to address any gaps in the education and training of vocational skills.

lord agnew of oulton: The department is working with employers to jointly design and deliver policies and programmes which will make the skills system more responsive to employer needs, whilst giving individuals the skills they need to succeed. T levels are being designed to better meet the needs of businesses and to help young people to move successfully into skilled employment. Over 200 employers have been involved in defining the content of T levels to ensure that they reflect current industry requirements. Students’ experience on industry placements will be ‘hands on’ so they will leave their course with the skills employers are looking for. Employers are leading on the design of new apprenticeships standards, putting them in the driving seat to give apprentices the skills that businesses really need. Across all sectors, they are being designed and driven by industry, creating higher quality training that will lead to a more skilled and productive economy. We are working closely with employers to help them take advantage of apprenticeships and grow their programmes. Employers are central to traineeships, which are an education and training programme supporting social mobility by providing quality training for young people who need to develop their skills and experience in order to enter the labour market. They consist of a high quality work placement with an employer; work preparation training; and English and maths support for those who have not achieved a GCSE grade A* to C or equivalent with a training provider. We are establishing a National Retraining Scheme, driven by the National Retraining Partnership, which brings together the Confederation of British Industry, Trades Union Congress and the government to set the scheme’s strategic direction and oversee its development. This partnership will work together to ensure that the voices of businesses and workers feed directly into the development of the scheme so that it will genuinely make a difference. Skills Advisory Panels (SAPs) aim to bring together local employers and skills providers to pool knowledge on skills and labour market needs. They aim to work together to understand and address key local challenges, including helping to tackle local skills shortages. SAPs will address both immediate needs and challenges and look at what is required to help local areas adapt to future labour market changes and to grasp future opportunities. This will help colleges, universities and other providers deliver the skills required by employers, now and in the future.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Stronger Towns Fund: Cumbria

lord inglewood: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they anticipate that Workington and Whitehaven will be eligible to receive support from the Stronger Towns Fund.

lord bourne of aberystwyth: The Stronger Towns Fund is a new £1.6 billion fund to support towns in England to harness their unique strengths to grow and prosper.I confirmed to the House on 5 March the Government will publish further detail on the operation of the Fund in due course.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Social Media: Data Protection

lord taylor of warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps, if any, they are taking to work with Instagram and other companies to secure the personal information of social media users following a recent global data breach.

lord ashton of hyde: We take the protection and privacy of personal data extremely seriously. We have made it clear that all organisations, including the biggest social networking services who process vast amounts of personal data, must comply with the UK’s data protection laws. It is essential that people are confident their personal data will be protected and used in an appropriate way. The Data Protection Act 2018 and GDPR impose strict obligations on organisations to ensure that UK citizens’ data is processed safely and securely. Organisations that fail to comply with the legislation may be investigated by the Information Commissioner’s Office and subject to enforcement action including fines.